US Moving to Aggressively Confront Iran

Tensions Mount Between US and Turkey

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook gave an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya English network on Monday, saying among other things that the US is seeking to come to a new agreement with Iran regarding its renegade nuclear program, ballistic missiles, support for regional terrorism and its detention of foreign nationals. He also explained the meaning of a decision to end the program of waivers for some governments which allowed them to avoid sanctions on oil imports from the Islamic Republic, saying that from now on countries “can either work with the United States, or you can work with Iran, but you can’t do both.”

“So, there’s a convergence of interest, especially with Arab nations, Israel, the United States, many of our European allies,” he added. “We want a more peaceful Iran, and that’s up to Iran. They can either start behaving more peacefully or they can watch their economy crumble.” He also said the new sanctions are designed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite terror militia Hezbollah, which he said receives the overwhelming majority of its funding from Teheran.

The new sanctions have been dismissed by Iranian officials as “irrelevant” despite the visible damage they’re already doing to Iran’s fragile economy and they’ve also been criticized by some US allies, including Turkey, which is growing increasingly distant from Washington on a variety of issues.

Here is a video about relations between the US and Turkey

Israeli officials, on the other hand, were among the first to congratulate and praise the Trump Administration for its decision to end the waiver program for China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issuing a statement saying “We stand by the determination of the United States against Iranian aggression and this is the right way to stop it. This is the way to confront Iranian aggression, this is the way to prevent it.”